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The Manners, Customs, and Mentality of Pilgrims to the Egyptian City of the Dead: 1100-1500 A

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The Manners, Customs, and Mentality of Pilgrims to the Egyptian City of the Dead: 1100-1500 A THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND MENTALITY OF PILGRIMS TO THE EGYPTIAN CITY OF THE DEAD: 1100-1500 A. D.* Tetsuya OHTOSHI** I. Introduction Surrounding Cairo's citadel from the southwest to the northeast, there stretch huge cemeteries in heaps comprising more than tens of thousand holy tombs. In recent years, these cemeteries have been known generically as al-Qarafa, but for their appearance and sectioning, the area is also col- lectively termed the City of the Dead (Madina al-Mawta), primarily by non- Egyptians. The term al-Qarafa was, however, originally limited to the grave- yard area that expands south to the Citadel, and this area was further divided in the Greater Qarafa (al-Qarafa al-Kubra) and the Lesser Qarafa (al-Qarafa al-Sughra). The Greater Qarafa, which was located in an area run- ning from the east of Fustat toward former Habash lake and Mt. Muqattam, is more widespread than the lesser one, and precedes it historically. The Lesser Qarafa centered around an area stretching from the mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi'i to the skirt of Muqattam mountain. During the Mamluk period, a semi-official graveyard was also formed in the Sahra' area (al- Sahra') ranging as far as the cemetery just outside Nasr Gate. Nowadays it has become customary to call all these cemeteries "Qarafa"(1). The Qarafa was primarily a sanctuary where masses of pilgrims visited, with the aim of solving their difficulties and purify their souls. Also on the Sabbath and moonlit nights, crowds including women and children came on excursions, making it "the most popular pleasure resort in Egypt (Khitat II- 444)". Nevertheless, until now Qarafa has not attracted sufficient scholarly attention. Among preceding works on Qarafa, topographical and archaeolog- * This paper is part of an oral presentation before the 89th Annual Meeting of the Historical Society of Japan in November 1991. I would like to express my gratitude to Professors S. 'Ashur and H. Rabi' of Cairo University for their help. ** Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Vol. XXIX 1993 19 ical studies were promoted by R. Guest, L. Massignon and Y. Ragib. Y. Ragib, in particular, ranged over extensive literatures in laying the corner- stone for Qarafa studies. However, none of these scholars ever went as far as an inquiry into the manners and customs of visitors, and the domain of their mentalities, with the exception of L. Massignon who was the first to shed a little light on the manners of visitors. Then Egyptian historian S. 'Ashur added several pieces of important information from historical per- spective. More recently, C. Taylor has also been exploring these aspects from another point of view(2). But it certainly seems strange that many of scholars so easily labeled this visiting custom as "saint worship" or "popular Islam" even though its substance still remains obscure. This paper will, therefore, first attempt to document pilgrimages to the City of the Dead using the extant manuscripts of pilgrimage guides, sup- plemented by chronicles, geographies, legal-related works, traveler's ac- counts and the Waqf documents pertaining to the period. Then, based on this information, an investigation will be carried out as to the various vis- iting activities and the mental structure of the pilgrims, and, moreover, the relationship between Egyptian society and the visiting of Qarafa. As a result, the research has inevitably brought forth long-disputed problems, that is, how and what should be the true Islam. Then, ultimately, in the course of this investigation, the author endeavors to bring about a historical study of folklore, faith, mentality and the everyday life of the common people in the Middle East. II. The Phases of the Pilgrim's Manners and Customs The word ziyara referred to here means the act of visiting the tombs of deceased relatives, friends, masters or saints, whether individually or collec- tively. Furthermore, the ziyara is supposed to denote not only a mere visit to the tombs, but also the whole series of activities, including the salute to the dead and the prayer (du'a'). It is needless to say that the word should be distinguished rigidly from the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca) in Islamic theory. As for the formal details about ziyara, such as the mixture of groups and individuals, the gender, age and social classes of the pilgrims, whether made on foot or mounted, the establishment of regular routes, and their times, days of the week and seasons, this paper will omit them here, 20 ORIENT THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND MENTALITY OF PILGRIMS TO THE EGYPTIAN CITY...... owing to the limits of space, as well as its particular focus(3). Nevertheless, one of the aspects that should be underlined here is that, in some cases, portions of the Waqf (endowed trust) income were systematically allocated through the religious institutions for the pilgrims to Qarafa. The Waqf document of Amir Sudun min Zada states: From the income of this Waqf, twenty dirhams should be paid monthly to the group of pilgrims visiting the saints in Qarafa on Saturdays and Wednesdays that is known as Ibn 'Uthman's group, and they who take the place of them. So that they shall recite the Quran when they visit the saints in the aforementioned Qarafa in the forenamed day of the week...and after reciting, they shall pray for the above-mention- ed donor of the Waqf (wdqif), his descendants and all the Muslims with mercy and forgiveness...(4). As a background to this system, one can point out the development of religious institutions under the Mamluks. The institutions built by the governing elite of the Mamluk dynasty, such as hdnqdh (sufi institution) and madrasa (school), were operated using Waqf income, and prescribed even the recitation of the Quran in detail. The allowance given to the pilgrims in this document can be interpreted as an extension of this applica- tion. In those days, the typical reason for visiting the holy tombs at Qarafa was, difficulties or hardships weighing on the minds of pilgrims, to take refuge there for solving(5). These difficulties varied widely, from an eco- nomic problems or healing of illness to the accomplishment of things or hopes for protection; still, all these were directly linked to the contents of prayers performed in the cemeteries. The most urgent and acute reason for people to visit the saints' graves, and the reason found in highest fre- quency in the pilgrimage texts, is to fulfill prayers there. Accordingly, the tombs which were thought to be highly and rapidly responsive to prayers were sought after, and the pilgrimage guides offer informations about them in abundance. Another point is that the pilgrimage books never discribed the Qarafa visit asking for fun on principle, yet if we rearrange the real activities of the people on the records, no one can deny the obvious aspects of amuse- ments and pleasure. People went on moonlit nights carrying sweets and beverages, chatted toghether and even participated in singing or dancing. Vol. XXIX 1993 21 Women and children were permitted to visit it openly and with considerable freedom till late at night. Those who could actually experience the pilgrim- age to Mecca, which is an obligation to the whole body of Muslims, might be limited in number, but we can perceive that in exchange, the people visited the saints' tombs, for which pilgrimage was much easier. Notwith- standing that there was a serious dispute among the scholars of the peri- od, a visit to the holy tombs in Qarafa was in itself generally regarded as a praiseworthy deed. In the meantime, the word du'a' (prayer) can be found in the Quran, meaning an earnest request for something or a supplication to God; it is differentiated from the salat (official Islamic prayer ritual) or performed in conjunction with it(6). For instance, the salat may not be perfomed in the graveyard, but, according to the pilgrimage texts, du'a' may. Du'a' was executed by either individuals or in groups, and a theoretical distinction was made between the prayer for oneself (du'a' li-nafsi-hi) and the prayer for the others. As for the prayer for oneself, there was still an ongoing strict legal argument, yet the authors of the pilgrimage books permitted it. Fig. I: A Diagram of Possible Forms of Prayer and Their Purposes Fig. I represents a typology of du'a' forms and purposes, and indicates four possible vector combinations borne out by actual examples from the pilgrimage texts: (i) healing of illness, triumph in war, desire for clothing, to die a virgin, solo burial in the graveyard etc.(7), (ii) as a gift to the deceased, for entering heaven, safety and peace in the pilgrimage to Mec- ca, healing of illness(8), (iii) abatenment of the plague, the swelling of the Nile river (or the prayer for rainfall, istisqa')(9), (iv) a leg that emerged out of the tomb should be hidden (may Allah forgive the deceased)(10). An examination of each above example reveals, as long as the expession of ful- fillment of prayers is taken, a tendency for the matter of the prayers to 22 ORIENT THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND MENTALITY OF PILGRIMS TO THE EGYPTIAN CITY...... center rather on this-worldly benefits. Since the manners and customs of the pilgrims to the City of the Dead is a subject I have already detailed elsewhere, taking Ibn 'Uthman's twen- ty visiting guidelines as an indicator(11), I would rather single out the well- disputed points which concern themselves with the very foundations of Islamic creed to the present day. This is in agreement with my task of illustrating the divergence between common practices at Qarafa and those of the idealistic learned men.
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